


all the world is waiting for you

by Grevling



Category: To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-21
Updated: 2015-12-21
Packaged: 2018-05-08 03:55:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5482403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grevling/pseuds/Grevling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carol Ann arrived in New York City on a crisp and windy Thursday afternoon in April.</p>
            </blockquote>





	all the world is waiting for you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [whetherwoman](https://archiveofourown.org/users/whetherwoman/gifts).



> Happy Yuletide, whetherwoman! I saw your prompt for _To Wong Foo_ and I absolutely couldn't resist - it's one of my absolute favorite movies. I hope I did it (and the glorious Miss Vida Boheme and the fierce Carol Ann) justice. 
> 
> I know practically zilch about New York City, so please don't hold it against me if I get something horribly wrong.

Carol Ann arrived in New York City on a crisp and windy Thursday afternoon in April.

Her plane - the first one she'd been on, a terrifying and thrilling experience - had arrived early and left her at loose ends, wandering aimlessly around the airport. She'd finally grown tired of staring blankly at kiosks full of more snowglobes and knickknacks than she'd ever seen in her life and had retreated outside, but it wasn't much better there.

Surrounded by what felt like more people than she'd ever seen in her entire life, she retreated to a sheltered corner of the sidewalk, plastered against a pillar. Squaring her shoulders, she grasped the handle of her battered duffle bag tighter, steeling herself against the scornful looks she could feel analyzing her faded sundress and windswept hair. She tugged her baggy coat tighter around herself as a breeze cut through the pick-up area. One of Virgil's cast-offs, the coat was still nicer than anything she'd ever owned, but now she wished she had saved up for a new wardrobe after he'd left.

Lost in thought, and trying to decide whether she could still smell his tobacco-y stench on the inner lining of the coat, she didn't notice the taxi pull up in front of her until a flutter of deep turquoise caught her eye. And then, there she was. 

Miss Vida Boheme.

Carol Ann had always known that she was glamorous, but part of her still thought that that was just the way people dressed in the big city. Big dresses, elaborate hairstyles, delicate strands of pearls - it all just seemed downright _metropolitan_.

But here Vida was, in her element, and still she stood out like a daisy in a field of crabgrass. Carol Ann hadn't realized how grey everything was around her until they all- the people, the concrete, and the sky alike- faded into the background like so many ghosts in the face of Vida's brilliance.

A white-gloved hand stroked up and down Carol Ann's arm suddenly, pulling her from her reverie, and she looked up to see Vida gazing at her with concern and understanding. 

"It really is overwhelming the first time, isn't it darling?" she asked, drawing Carol Ann over to the taxi and taking her bag easily from her shoulder. "Happens to the best of us, really. Why, I remember coming here when I was barely more than a slip of a thing, can you believe it, and just standing outside that perfectly ghastly bus station and staring up at all those beautiful buildings..."

Carol Ann let her voice fade out into soothing background noise as Vida guided her into the taxi and gave the driver instructions, the words flowing over her like a river as she stared out the window of the car. It was soothing, for a while, the endless rows of brake lights in front of them flashing red on and off, the bands of trees whipping past as Vida talked about their plans and her terribly uncomfortable shoes, really, it's a _crime_. 

But then they rounded a bend in the road and Carol Ann gasped, eyes alight with wonder as the famous skyline came into view before her. Vida paused in her diatribe and slid closer, resting one hand on Carol Ann's shoulder as she used the other to gesture out the window at the sights as they passed. 

By the time they rolled to a stop outside Vida's apartment building, the lump in Carol Ann's throat had turned into excitement, and a deep feeling of warmth in her chest. The cab driver shouted "Welcome to New York!" out the window of his cab as he peeled away from the curb, the strap of Carol Ann's duffel bag held securely in Vida's hand, and Vida turned to roll her eyes at Carol Ann.

"His manners are lacking a certain something, but the sentiment is true enough," Vida huffed, hefting the bag onto one shoulder and spreading her arms wide, gathering Carol Ann into her embrace. "Oh, dear, I am so glad to see you though!"

Carol Ann returned the hug. "Oh Miss Vida, you have no idea how much I missed you," she said, in a voice creaky from disuse. Then, after holding the hug a moment longer, she cleared her throat and stepped back, bracing her hands on her hips. "Now, are we gonna stand out here jawin' like jaybirds all day, or are you going to show me your fancy New York apartment?"

The full-throated laugh that Vida let out would have been enough to make the whole trip worthwhile, in Carol Ann's book.

* * *

She woke up the next morning in unaccustomed comfort, nestled into a cloud-like pile of pillows and down comforter. Vida had insisted that they take the previous evening easy, and they'd stayed in eating some of Vida's delicious leftovers and catching up on the comings and goings back in Snydersville.

Carol Ann smiled to remember the look on Vida's face when she told her that Tommy had started up a little record shop in town, and was hosting dance nights and showing nary a sign of his previous ways, but she frowned to remember the shadow that had passed over Vida's face when she suggested they should tell Noxeema when they saw her.

"She's busy," was all that a suddenly terse Vida would tell her before suddenly asking after Bobby Lee. Always eager to talk about her girls, Carol Ann allowed it, but vowed to herself that she'd get an answer out of her sooner or later.

They'd spent the rest of the evening toasting Bobby Lee's success, only a few months from graduation as she was, and on track to go to one of the University of Nebraska's satellite schools in a nearby city. It was close, but not near close enough for Carol Ann's taste, though Vida thought it was wonderful. 

"All little baby birds must flap their way free of the nest at some point, mama bird," she teased, rubbing one hand up and down Carol Ann's back. "It will be good for them - and for you, too! When was the last time you did something for yourself, then?" She raked an appraising eye over Carol Ann's outfit. "Why, I think you're even wearing the same dress you were when I met you!"

Carol Ann pulled back, drawing the sofa blanket over her lap in a futile attempt to cover her dress. "Oh, for cryin' out loud," she snapped, drawing her knees up onto the sofa, folding herself up as small as possible. "I haven't had much time for shopping, what with three kids 'n all, and besides I think you three used up the town's last box of fashionable clothing when you all blew through there four years ago!"

To her surprise, Vida didn't look angry at her outburst, or even worried. Her face was instead pure determination as she said, "Oh no, Miss Carol Ann, don't you take me the wrong way - I'm not blaming you for taking good care of your family. But I am going to insist that, while you're here, you let Miss Vida Boheme take care of _you_ instead." She held up a hand to forestall her protests and grinned, reaching out to clasp Carol Ann's hands in her own. "Carol Ann, you did so much for me and my friends back then, and I'm not sure I can ever repay you. Please, just let me do this for you?"

Determination crumbling under the warm pressure of Vida's hands around her own, and her softly pleading eyes, Carol Ann blushed and looked away and muttered, "Oh, all right then. If you insist." Vida began to grin, and Carol Ann freed one of her hands to point at her. "But don't," she threatened, "treat this like a free ticket to make me over like you did Loretta and the rest, just because I missed out on it last time. I don't need any of that."

"Of course not," Vida said, patting her hand in a completely unconvincing manner. "Girl Scout's Honor."

* * *

She was regretting that agreement, now, standing as close to bare as anyone outside God and her ex-husband had seen her in near on thirty years, with Vida's eyes casting speculating glances up and down her form. She was embarrassed at her threadbare undergarments, but it was far too late to do anything about them now. 

Vida hummed in contemplation. "Ohhh, yes yes, that might work," she muttered, fluttering her hands all around as she worked away at whatever problem Carol Ann seemed to be presenting to her. She disappeared into the next room of her apartment, leaving Carol Ann half-dressed next to the tv, then returned with a pile of fabric and a sewing machine.

"You can _sew_?" Carol Ann asked, then immediately wished she could take the stupid question back. "I mean, I didn't know you could make clothes and all," she fumbled, feeling more awkward by the second.

Vida waved her off and set up a folding table in the corner with the ease of long practice. "It's a vital skill, I'll have you know," she said, pulling out supplies and threading the needle on the machine with a single motion. "There aren't that many stores that cater to the big and tall woman. It's a necessity, for me at least." She slotted the bobbin into place and looked up at Carol Ann, pulling two folded lengths of fabric from the pile. "Now the only question remains: magenta, or aquamarine?"

Briefly forgetting her discomfort, Carol Ann reached out to stroke both fabrics, marveling at the slippery smooth texture, but pulling back rapidly when she felt her rough-calloused fingertips catch on the delicate surface. "Oh no, Miss Vida, you don't want to use something this fine on me," she insisted. "Surely you have just some plain cotton or something, right? I don't need nothing fancy."

"Nuh uh uh," tutted Vida, "That's not what we agreed upon last night! I said I would be taking care of you this week, and that is what I'm doing. Every woman needs a fine and fancy dress to have, even if she doesn't have a reason. Now: pick a color, please," and she she smiled that serene smile up at Carol Ann, completely sure of herself, and Carol Ann couldn't help but smile back.

"Aquamarine, then," she said, pulling her dress back over her head and settling in next to Vida as she laid out the fabric to cut. "I have quite enough of pinks and reds at the Strawberry Festival every year."

They talked as Vida cut and pinned, conversation ebbing and flowing around the pulsing of the sewing machine as it pieced the parts together. Carol Ann talked about Miss Clara opening the movie theater back up again, with help from Billy Budd, whose stutter had almost disappeared and who now hosted poetry nights when there wasn't a new movie, and about Beatrice and Jimmy Joe moving in together, down the way from her house.

Vida offered little snippets here and there as she worked, "Chi-Chi started a new charity with her winnings from the Drag Queen of America contest," she said, pinning two pieces of the dress together.

"Noxie moved to Chicago this winter. Finally found somebody to produce her one-woman play about Dorothy Dandridge," she said, snipping a thread with an unnecessarily dramatic scissor flourish.

But her most shocking update comes when she's pinning the hem on the bottom of the full skirt. "I talked to my father," she whispers, almost inaudible over the hum of the sewing machine waiting by her elbow. 

This time Carol Ann is the one to place her hand on Vida's back, ever so gently. "Sometimes," she says, "people don't even deserve the energy it'd take to spit in their face."

Vida barks out a surprised laugh, then sniffs gently. "You always do have the most fascinatingly appropriate phrases, don't you?" she says, wiping her eyes and shaking her hands as if to rid them of the emotion. "Now," she flourishes the completed dress, "let's see you in something a little less drab, shall we?"

* * *

They go out to a movie that evening after Carol Ann admits that's she hasn't seen Notting Hill yet and Vida goes into fits as she rhapsodizes about Hugh Grant. Carol Ann wears her new dress, and, walking around on Vida's arm as she whispers in her ear all the secrets of the city - the streets filled with strange and gorgeous people, the dazzling places amidst the garbage and noise - she swears she's never felt so beautiful before.

* * *


End file.
